Briscoe, a 56-year-old barrister, from Clapham, south west London, denies three counts of intending to pervert the course of justice.

The jury of six women and five men had been deliberating since Wednesday at Southwark Crown Court but were discharged after failing to reach verdicts on any counts.

PA

Huhne case costs

Briscoe is accused of providing police with two inaccurate statements about her role as an intermediary between then Energy Secretary Chris Huhne's estranged wife Vicky Pryce and reporters in revealing details of the speeding points saga.

She is also accused of producing an altered copy of a statement and then deliberately getting a document expert to view the wrong version of the statement.

She has been suspended since her arrest in October 2012.

Briscoe will face a retrial, the court heard, but a date is yet to be fixed. The barrister was given unconditional bail.

The jury was reduced from 12 to 11 earlier this week after one member was discharged, but after 13 hours of deliberations could not reach verdicts, despite being told they could find majority verdicts of 10-1.

During the trial, which started on January 14, the jury heard that Briscoe helped economist Pryce, who was a friend and also her neighbour, to reveal information about the points-swapping scandal to newspapers after she and Huhne separated in 2010.

The scandal was to lead to Huhne's resignation and subsequent prosecution. He pleaded guilty in February last year, while Pryce was convicted after a trial. Both have now served jail sentences.

It is claimed that Briscoe misled police in two witness statements made on May 31, 2011, and August 16, 2012.

It is also alleged that she deliberately gave police an altered copy of one of the statements, and the third charge alleges that she then deliberately handed a different copy of the statement to an expert.